April 29, 2006
The phone rang at 11 AM. I got up and fished out the phone from my trouser pocket. As I predicted, it was Sergio calling to confirm. I said I will be ready in an hour.
I checked mail as I was getting ready. There was one international delivery for a CD by a Toronto-based Salsa band. There was just enough time for a quick import into my iPod and quick sampling of some of the songs. As I made my way to meet Sergio, my reaction to a certain special song was, "Mmm. This is more of a change of pace song. It's certainly not a big crowd pleaser and not for intense dancing. When would be appropriate time and situation to play this?" I guess I'm a bit wary of big crowd pleasers right now so not being a crowd-pleaser is not bad by my book. Also how many people are there for intense dancing? Heck, what do I know of intense dancing, and what does it mean anyway? Still, this is going to be a really big challenge for me.
I arrived at 12:05 PM. One of the first things I noticed was the big mirror on the floor. The mirror was bigger than I expected - a bit of overkill for practicing body movement, but I suppose a big mirror is handy for getting more than one person in the frame. Perhaps this was because of minor distortions but I think I ended up trying not to look at the mirror as much as possible and try to move by feel and how it corresponded to verbal descriptions and instructions given.
Approximately one half to two thirds of ~3 hour session (not including 20-30 minute break) was spent on exercises designed to do Mambo basic better. I don't think I should describe them - at least not until I am pretty certain that what I write is accurate. It does involve a lot of pushing against the ground with the balls of feet while avoiding placing weight on the heels. Sergio warned me that my feet will feel pretty sore by the end. I wouldn't say that they are sore now but they certainly were given a workout and I can feel it.
I discovered that I'm horrible at balancing standing on one feet - especially with weight on balls of my feet only (but I was stumbling with all of my feet firmly planted as well). Unfortunately, Sergio couldn't think of any exercise for staying in balance. Sergio commented, "No wonder you have such difficulty with broken left turn." Maybe it was not enough food - I did feel a bit feint walking after having lunch after the end of the session.
[Interlude 1: I stop typing to get up to test this idea. I'm not perfectly steady but am not wobbling as much standing on one foot now.]
[Interlude 2: I remembered that I was doing this with my shoes off earlier. I tried again with my shoes off. It's much more difficult now to stay balanced. Interesting... Maybe it's the extra padding… Yup, balancing is easier with normal shoes or with dancing shoes.]
By the way, Sergio said it's easier to observe what's going on with my feet wearing white socks (as opposed to black ones). Next time…
Some time was spent discussing some partner work - not exactly by design but prompted by me talking about some moves I have been leading or trying to lead recently and have noticed some difficulty with. Recently taught Copa move from this week (and also discussed last night) was the starting point, and this expanded into Copa and Copa fakes in general. Interestingly, Sergio had least amount of objection to the way I was leading this week's Copa. However, he disliked pretty much every other way I was leading Copa and Copa fakes. One particular Copa fake was considered particularly bad - I now wonder if the instruction was okay but if I misinterpreted it poorly (I could see this scenario unfolding in retrospect because of some subtleties tricky to follow in a group class with most people being unclear with proper level of tension). I have been using this Copa fake regularly with most people not complaining, but there were occasional highly surprising misses, which prompted me to bring it up to Sergio. Open break (tension issue) and around-the-world lead was briefly touched upon (not sure what led to the latter).
During the break, music was the main topic (which reminds me that I still need to break down different percussion instruments) - mainly about danceable music. While on the topic I decided to give my new CD a whirl. Sergio had couple of reactions I found funny such as, "It sounded okay until the vocals came on," and "I could picture Ivan dancing to this." Sergio as many people know is a tough critic so this should be taken with grain of salt. In fact, he considers many songs I enjoy either dull or terrible. I might add that it's often better not to know lyrics of many Salsa and Bachata music - it might be just too … special. Incidentally I guess there is something called "Toronto Style Salsa" if liner note is to be believed. I wonder how it compares to "London Style Salsa."
I guess the next time I see guinea pigs numero uno and dos, I'll have some fun things to relate and commiserate with.
Battle of the DJs
April 28, 2006
The regular mixer at the DJ booth was not reinstalled by the time I got there, and the first two CDs I put on did not work properly with the replacement mixer. Combined with lack of time to get acquainted with the replacement mixer, I was feeling tense, nervous and annoyed. I was not exactly pleased about Vishal’s suggestion that two of us take turns alternating as DJs several times over the evening. I guess the idea of alternating was fine in itself, but the last minute change of arrangements rattled me. For a moment or two, I even considered telling Vishal to take over for the whole night because my nerves were frayed. I think it took me over an hour to start relaxing and begin to enjoy things a little.
Playlist Part 1
Soledad – La 33 (1)
Esa Muneca – Willie Rosario
Porque Adore – Markolino Dimond (+5%) (2)
Mama Guela – Poncho Sanchez (3)
Mi Mujer Es Una Bomba – Oscar D’Leon (4)
El Pito – Isidro Infante (5)
Estoy Caliente – Tabaco Y Ron
Rumba Del Barrio – Luisito Rosario
Cielo De Tambores – Grupo Niche (6)
Quinto Sabroso – Joe Cuba Sextet (-5%) (7)
Acabo De Llegar – Tabaco Y Ron (8)
Puerto Rico – Eddie Palmieri
Descarga La Moderna – Ray Barretto (-5%) (9)
Mentiras – Oscar D’Leon (10)
(1) First two tracks used were practice tracks while Vishal and I tried to see two of my CDs to work with the replacement mixer. Thinking about these CDs more without a time pressure, I now have fairly good idea why these two CDs were acting difficult (it has to do with the CD burner I used – pretty esoteric stuff, really).
(2) Too downbeat for most people? It hasn't started well and it's not picking up steam.
(3) Conga solo seemed to throw some people off.
(4) No skipping with new copy of the CD. I guess that's one of silver linings.
(5) My feeling on this track is somewhat mixed. It seemed popular enough with tonight’s crowd though. Maybe that was the trouble.
(6) I’m getting a feeling that many of tonight’s crowd is looking for something along the line of Mexican party music. I’m guessing anything that sounds serious may not get a good reaction.
(7) I think it was about this point where I began to relax a little – still annoyed but no longer feeling fiery or icy.
(8) I had been relying on a prepared list of songs up to now although the order of the songs had been completely scrambled. This was the second song not on my list that I ended up playing tonight.
(9) This song received much better reaction than I expected.
(10) Vishal took over after this song for about 20 minutes.
I guess Vishal’s idea was that I take a break and dance a little. I think I ended up just having one dance during this break. I was not mentally prepared for dance and I was still not in a great mood. I took time to simply walk around and cool off. Chatting helped too.
Playlist Part 2
Pecado – Toque D’ Keda (11)
Es La Musica – Massimo Scalici (12)
Vivo Por Ella – El Rubio Loco
Thinking Of You – Lenny Kravitz (13)
Celia Y Tito – Isidro Infante (14)
Salsa Y Control – Lebron Brothers
Mambo Diablo – Tito Puente (15)
(11) Another unplanned song following a Merengue track by Vishal. Someone who bought the CD recently requested it during my break. It’s a good track, which I had not gotten around to playing until now.
(12) This one packed the floor. I guess people had a really favorable memory of it from last week. This felt good - until later in the evening (see (18) below).
(13) I knew that this was a mistake. I thought about playing something else with about 2 minutes left on the previous song. In the end, I decided to play it anyway and see if it really was a mistake. I don’t think it worked in this context. It was too early, and a change of pace song was not needed here. Now I know for sure.
(14) Back to party music.
(15) At least I had the opportunity to dance to this song for myself. Another Vishal break.
I’m not sure what to think of this alternating DJ idea. It really doesn’t do very much for my dancing. It's neither here nor there. It’s also something of a popularity competition, which I didn't enjoy - at least not wholeheartedly.
Playlist Part 3
Lamento Boliviano – Toque D’ Keda (16)
Baila Andres – Mezcla Latina (Rojos remix) (17)
Todo De Corazon - Alma Latina
Te Quiero – Oliver (18)
#100 – Tito Puente (19)
El Hijo De Obtala – Ray Barretto (-4%) (20)
Tumbando Cabeza – Tabaco Y Ron (21)
(16) Preceding song was a Merengue (same relay format as before).
(17) Another party song, which was followed by another. It might be useful for me know opinion of these songs from more people.
(18) I was getting somewhat annoyed by the fact that the last two songs were so popular even though I was playing both for the very first time on Friday nights. I thought a lot of people were treating this as if it were disco or such. I was thinking that there wasn’t any good follow-up either. Instead of playing another Salsa, I took advantage of Serap’s request for another Bachata before she went home. [note: Serap ended up staying quite a bit longer after saying goodbye after this song.]
(19) This song seem popular later in the evening too.
(20) This song was not as popular, at least not with the crowd that was left over. I’m not quite sure why this is considered a popular song by many people. However, I don't know if a more solid old-school Salsa would have done well, and I'm not sure if I want to go deeply into pandering mode. I guess I need to experiment more.
(21) Last song. I had gone from alarmed, annoyed, frustrated, relaxed, pleased, content, concerned and ended feeling perhaps disinterested or detached.
Other songs I considered but ended up not playing include:
Puerto Rico - Frankie Ruiz
Summertime - Ray Barretto
La Cacharra - Jimmy Bosch
Nada De Ti - Eddie Palmieri
La Quiero - Dominic Marte
Pa Que Afinquen - Cheo Feliciano
Philadelphia Mambo - Cal Tjader
La Vie En Rose - Africando
Bailadores - Joe Cuba Sextet
Once again, there seemed to be fair bit of complaints about lack of Merengue. Vishal was doing his best to promote Saturdays for these people once again. If anything, alternating between Vishal and me resulted in Salsa taking up higher percentage of overall musical selection - I guess that is a good thing. My recollection is that Vishal played maybe 4 Merengue for the night, 1 Bachata and maybe 1 Reggaeton plus whole lot of Salsa from his standard collection (nothing adventurous tonight). There are so many conflicting preferences about music in general as well as type of Salsa music being played. Perhaps it's not a surprise that song selections had become bland and limited. It's like McDonald's - you know that it will not great but you know what you are getting and that it will be reliable (thus keeping complaints minimal or at least predictable).
Thinking about last minute changes more, I guess I only confirmed with Vishal that I would DJ last night (and I probably didn’t sound very enthusiastic) thus I should not complain too much. I was surprised and pleased with Descarga La Moderna getting a nice reception, but I was pleased neither with my performance as a DJ nor with the outcome in general. I suppose it’s a little silly or weird to be displeased with some songs I played being too popular. Kitsch is okay as a change of pace, but for people who are dancing to songs after songs, dancing to same type of song all the time would get dull pretty quickly.
Rest of the evening had fair number of Salsa as well as some Bachata. That much was nice. Also nice was having what might be a budding core group to hang out, chat, dance and practice with until the closing time. Going over some Bachata moves as well as material from this Monday’s class with Rajiv and others was nice (even if the way Rajiv leading the moves I was showing him via Monday class was better received than the way I was leading it). I ended up staying til closing time (with Salsa still dominating the play selection with Vishal at helm) and staying up until much later (or should I say earlier?) - despite looking at possibility of some tutoring with Sergio tomorrow.
The regular mixer at the DJ booth was not reinstalled by the time I got there, and the first two CDs I put on did not work properly with the replacement mixer. Combined with lack of time to get acquainted with the replacement mixer, I was feeling tense, nervous and annoyed. I was not exactly pleased about Vishal’s suggestion that two of us take turns alternating as DJs several times over the evening. I guess the idea of alternating was fine in itself, but the last minute change of arrangements rattled me. For a moment or two, I even considered telling Vishal to take over for the whole night because my nerves were frayed. I think it took me over an hour to start relaxing and begin to enjoy things a little.
Playlist Part 1
Soledad – La 33 (1)
Esa Muneca – Willie Rosario
Porque Adore – Markolino Dimond (+5%) (2)
Mama Guela – Poncho Sanchez (3)
Mi Mujer Es Una Bomba – Oscar D’Leon (4)
El Pito – Isidro Infante (5)
Estoy Caliente – Tabaco Y Ron
Rumba Del Barrio – Luisito Rosario
Cielo De Tambores – Grupo Niche (6)
Quinto Sabroso – Joe Cuba Sextet (-5%) (7)
Acabo De Llegar – Tabaco Y Ron (8)
Puerto Rico – Eddie Palmieri
Descarga La Moderna – Ray Barretto (-5%) (9)
Mentiras – Oscar D’Leon (10)
(1) First two tracks used were practice tracks while Vishal and I tried to see two of my CDs to work with the replacement mixer. Thinking about these CDs more without a time pressure, I now have fairly good idea why these two CDs were acting difficult (it has to do with the CD burner I used – pretty esoteric stuff, really).
(2) Too downbeat for most people? It hasn't started well and it's not picking up steam.
(3) Conga solo seemed to throw some people off.
(4) No skipping with new copy of the CD. I guess that's one of silver linings.
(5) My feeling on this track is somewhat mixed. It seemed popular enough with tonight’s crowd though. Maybe that was the trouble.
(6) I’m getting a feeling that many of tonight’s crowd is looking for something along the line of Mexican party music. I’m guessing anything that sounds serious may not get a good reaction.
(7) I think it was about this point where I began to relax a little – still annoyed but no longer feeling fiery or icy.
(8) I had been relying on a prepared list of songs up to now although the order of the songs had been completely scrambled. This was the second song not on my list that I ended up playing tonight.
(9) This song received much better reaction than I expected.
(10) Vishal took over after this song for about 20 minutes.
I guess Vishal’s idea was that I take a break and dance a little. I think I ended up just having one dance during this break. I was not mentally prepared for dance and I was still not in a great mood. I took time to simply walk around and cool off. Chatting helped too.
Playlist Part 2
Pecado – Toque D’ Keda (11)
Es La Musica – Massimo Scalici (12)
Vivo Por Ella – El Rubio Loco
Thinking Of You – Lenny Kravitz (13)
Celia Y Tito – Isidro Infante (14)
Salsa Y Control – Lebron Brothers
Mambo Diablo – Tito Puente (15)
(11) Another unplanned song following a Merengue track by Vishal. Someone who bought the CD recently requested it during my break. It’s a good track, which I had not gotten around to playing until now.
(12) This one packed the floor. I guess people had a really favorable memory of it from last week. This felt good - until later in the evening (see (18) below).
(13) I knew that this was a mistake. I thought about playing something else with about 2 minutes left on the previous song. In the end, I decided to play it anyway and see if it really was a mistake. I don’t think it worked in this context. It was too early, and a change of pace song was not needed here. Now I know for sure.
(14) Back to party music.
(15) At least I had the opportunity to dance to this song for myself. Another Vishal break.
I’m not sure what to think of this alternating DJ idea. It really doesn’t do very much for my dancing. It's neither here nor there. It’s also something of a popularity competition, which I didn't enjoy - at least not wholeheartedly.
Playlist Part 3
Lamento Boliviano – Toque D’ Keda (16)
Baila Andres – Mezcla Latina (Rojos remix) (17)
Todo De Corazon - Alma Latina
Te Quiero – Oliver (18)
#100 – Tito Puente (19)
El Hijo De Obtala – Ray Barretto (-4%) (20)
Tumbando Cabeza – Tabaco Y Ron (21)
(16) Preceding song was a Merengue (same relay format as before).
(17) Another party song, which was followed by another. It might be useful for me know opinion of these songs from more people.
(18) I was getting somewhat annoyed by the fact that the last two songs were so popular even though I was playing both for the very first time on Friday nights. I thought a lot of people were treating this as if it were disco or such. I was thinking that there wasn’t any good follow-up either. Instead of playing another Salsa, I took advantage of Serap’s request for another Bachata before she went home. [note: Serap ended up staying quite a bit longer after saying goodbye after this song.]
(19) This song seem popular later in the evening too.
(20) This song was not as popular, at least not with the crowd that was left over. I’m not quite sure why this is considered a popular song by many people. However, I don't know if a more solid old-school Salsa would have done well, and I'm not sure if I want to go deeply into pandering mode. I guess I need to experiment more.
(21) Last song. I had gone from alarmed, annoyed, frustrated, relaxed, pleased, content, concerned and ended feeling perhaps disinterested or detached.
Other songs I considered but ended up not playing include:
Puerto Rico - Frankie Ruiz
Summertime - Ray Barretto
La Cacharra - Jimmy Bosch
Nada De Ti - Eddie Palmieri
La Quiero - Dominic Marte
Pa Que Afinquen - Cheo Feliciano
Philadelphia Mambo - Cal Tjader
La Vie En Rose - Africando
Bailadores - Joe Cuba Sextet
Once again, there seemed to be fair bit of complaints about lack of Merengue. Vishal was doing his best to promote Saturdays for these people once again. If anything, alternating between Vishal and me resulted in Salsa taking up higher percentage of overall musical selection - I guess that is a good thing. My recollection is that Vishal played maybe 4 Merengue for the night, 1 Bachata and maybe 1 Reggaeton plus whole lot of Salsa from his standard collection (nothing adventurous tonight). There are so many conflicting preferences about music in general as well as type of Salsa music being played. Perhaps it's not a surprise that song selections had become bland and limited. It's like McDonald's - you know that it will not great but you know what you are getting and that it will be reliable (thus keeping complaints minimal or at least predictable).
Thinking about last minute changes more, I guess I only confirmed with Vishal that I would DJ last night (and I probably didn’t sound very enthusiastic) thus I should not complain too much. I was surprised and pleased with Descarga La Moderna getting a nice reception, but I was pleased neither with my performance as a DJ nor with the outcome in general. I suppose it’s a little silly or weird to be displeased with some songs I played being too popular. Kitsch is okay as a change of pace, but for people who are dancing to songs after songs, dancing to same type of song all the time would get dull pretty quickly.
Rest of the evening had fair number of Salsa as well as some Bachata. That much was nice. Also nice was having what might be a budding core group to hang out, chat, dance and practice with until the closing time. Going over some Bachata moves as well as material from this Monday’s class with Rajiv and others was nice (even if the way Rajiv leading the moves I was showing him via Monday class was better received than the way I was leading it). I ended up staying til closing time (with Salsa still dominating the play selection with Vishal at helm) and staying up until much later (or should I say earlier?) - despite looking at possibility of some tutoring with Sergio tomorrow.
Piled deeper and higher
April 27, 2006
Last week (and weekend) was a very exhausting. Work has been problematic. Salsa was intense and very energy consuming. I was quite tired after Sunday, but somehow ended up spending a lot of energy on Monday too. My blog was worrying me too – a new record for number of page views for a week was set last week. Someone from Guadalupe going through 199 pages in one sitting helped, but even discounting those 199 remaining 401 would have been close to a new record (17 fewer than first week of October last year in the middle of the big initial hoopla and 11 more than that week in February this year during which a lot of comments were made and nerves were frayed). When there were exceptionally many visits to the blog in the past, it signaled that a lot of people are annoyed by something I wrote. However, there were no obvious indications that I wrote something controversial recently.
So what’s going on? I tried not to think about it – tried not to listen to Salsa music again to help keep my mind off everything Salsa. Unfortunately, trying to not think about Salsa didn’t help. I ended up thinking about writing more entries for the blog, for example about the upcoming Salsa Congresses (both at Heathrow and Bognor Regis), but changing my mind every time if nothing else so keep number of visitors down. By the way, the price for Bognor Congress (5th UK international Salsa Congress) goes up by 20 pounds at the end of this month. I am thinking that I should not go. I used to wake up in the morning thinking about my studies when I was still in school. Now I wake up thinking about things related to Salsa while also struggling to think about my work instead. Perhaps I should stop thinking about my work as a hobby – after all, is it possible to have two different serious hobbies or obsessions and do well with both? And I certainly don’t want Salsa to become my work.
By Tuesday, I found myself with very little energy. I went to play basketball for first time in 3 weeks. At the start of the game, I felt as if I only had quarter of tank of gas in me, and I was running on fumes for last 10-15 minutes or so. This is so unusual; normally I would be outrunning everyone near the end of the game. Only by Thursday did I feel somewhat recovered. Even though I am thinking that I need to cut down on Salsa somehow (especially if I end up keep acting as DJ on Fridays as well as working on fundamentals with Sergio), I decided to continue with the Thursday lessons for another week, but Sally wasn’t there tonight. Instead, Ivan and Jane acted as substitute instructors. Warm-up music used was “Get it up,” courtesy of Rajiv.
Intermediate with Ivan with Jane
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL with 2 1/2 clockwise traveling turn for follower with L-R ending in arm-lock (L position for both)
1,2,3,5,6,7 clockwise L-R toss on 1,2,3 – reconnect to lead follower to a full clockwise turn on 5,6,7
1,2,3,5,6,7 step to follower’s R on 1 (into tight closed hold ~CBL-like position), turn as unit 180 or 1/2 counterclockwise into CBL position and finish CBL and switch to R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 into CBL again with R-R straight down and slightly forward along follower’s line (keep arms straight) – 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn for follower (windmill lead) ending with toss – leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise and connect L-R by leader’s L waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower forward – reconnect R-L and lead follower into 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn to get back to open
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare and lead follower into double clockwise turn - pulling the zipper after the first turn to get R-L behind follower’s R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 connect L-R and exchange position with follower on 1,2,3 (from follower’s left position) with L-R going over follower’s head – need to keep tension and keep follower fairly close – bring follower around to behind leader via leader’s R side (both connections end up above leader’s L shoulder)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and lead follower forward on leader’s L side and into 1 1/2 traveling clockwise turn to get back to open
During the second hour of classes, I spied Ivan teaching around-the-world move to the improver class. It seemed like many people were doing pretty well with the move. It’s not long ago when I wrote about having an “around-the-world” envy – maybe January? I ended up working it out for myself after some effort and now lead it with pretty much everyone. Now I suspect everyone will be leading it in no time. I saw that Jane’s beyond beginner class was severely short of leaders, so I decided to help out with this class – hopefully I did more good than harm.
Dancing afterwards was uneven despite there being a lot of good dancersdancers (perhaps due to the Ivan effect). There were many good dances but there were also many dances that were either too much or too little (for lack of better words). Often I couldn’t find the right balance with the way I was leading the dance. I also am finding that some of the New York style material taught by Joe is unfamiliar and too subtle to a lot of people. I think people will adapt to them though, some sooner than others.
Music was adventuresome. I think Ivan was sticking mostly to classics and Salsa Dura and with touch of recent (but before my time) odd hits. Some of the songs he played were songs I considered playing tomorrow – “Nina Y Senora” by Tito Puente was a particularly amusing example for me, and “Quinto Sabroso” by Joe Cuba Sextet (apparently with Jose “Cheo” Feliciano) was another example. At one point, I told Ivan that people would have tried to lynch him if he tried playing some of tonight’s songs about a month ago on a Friday. Ivan commented that he had tried DJing on Fridays in the past and that he found it very tricky because of a very mixed constituency represented on Fridays. Apparently with tonight’s crowd mostly being well known to him, Ivan felt freer playing whatever he liked.
Interestingly, the music became even more adventuresome and possibly questionable at times when Vishal took over for Ivan. I wasn’t even sure if some of the songs would be considered proper Salsa. I would have considered one early song Reggaeton, but what do I know? At one point, I turned to ask Jane whether the song being played at that time would be considered Salsa. Jane thought it sounded more like Samba but she may not have been completely sure about it. In any case, there must have been 6-10 Salsa songs in a row that I did not recognize. I guess Vishal wants more Salsa with R & B feel to it; he has said this on more than one occasion to me. I guess I have been pretty loud in talking about wanting less of the same old same old, so I really should not be complaining of other people playing different sounding songs. Different people have different taste regarding type of music they like to dance Salsa to; I probably would play mostly instrumental tracks with jazzy feel (both complex and mellow) more than half the time if I were playing solely for myself.
Couple of Bachata was thrown by Vishal in later in the evening, which meant that I finally had some opportunity to practice Bachata; I haven’t had much of an opportunity in any manner after the Tony & Claudia workshop. I have been regretting declining an opportunity to dance Bachata with Daniela last week, and this regret was more acute than ever tonight. I certainly don’t think of myself as a natural in partner dancing. Considering how long it took me to get used to Salsa, I must wonder how difficult Bachata would be especially considering that it requires more comfort level (at least at the outset) with one’s partner to dance it well. Knowing the mechanics of the lead for Bachata thus far has not been difficult. Getting the proper mindset or attitude or command or other intangibles is more elusive. To top it off with musicality makes it even more challenging to practice. I wonder how much practice in private you-know-who had if any or if it came naturally very quickly.
Who knows? Maybe I will get in trouble anyway. Maybe I’ll get myself in trouble by some self-fulfilling method. Maybe I did it already. I don’t think I’m going to get much sleep tonight. [Added later: sleep turned out fairly restful – at least I didn’t feel tired or bothered when I woke up.]
Other topics at Club Salsa included another assessment of Bar Salsa on Mondays (pro - it lasts longer; con - alcohol drinkers), further talk of muscles regarding tension, Cache (I’m thinking and hoping that it would have more than one good track – Descarga.com review gives me hope), CDC Salsa night upcoming in Tuesday 9th of May (with Cambiando playing live), volume of music ("Is it getting louder here on Wednesdays and Thursdays?"), and the Bognor Congress (some people will indeed be booking this month - it makes sense if one is sure of going).
Last week (and weekend) was a very exhausting. Work has been problematic. Salsa was intense and very energy consuming. I was quite tired after Sunday, but somehow ended up spending a lot of energy on Monday too. My blog was worrying me too – a new record for number of page views for a week was set last week. Someone from Guadalupe going through 199 pages in one sitting helped, but even discounting those 199 remaining 401 would have been close to a new record (17 fewer than first week of October last year in the middle of the big initial hoopla and 11 more than that week in February this year during which a lot of comments were made and nerves were frayed). When there were exceptionally many visits to the blog in the past, it signaled that a lot of people are annoyed by something I wrote. However, there were no obvious indications that I wrote something controversial recently.
So what’s going on? I tried not to think about it – tried not to listen to Salsa music again to help keep my mind off everything Salsa. Unfortunately, trying to not think about Salsa didn’t help. I ended up thinking about writing more entries for the blog, for example about the upcoming Salsa Congresses (both at Heathrow and Bognor Regis), but changing my mind every time if nothing else so keep number of visitors down. By the way, the price for Bognor Congress (5th UK international Salsa Congress) goes up by 20 pounds at the end of this month. I am thinking that I should not go. I used to wake up in the morning thinking about my studies when I was still in school. Now I wake up thinking about things related to Salsa while also struggling to think about my work instead. Perhaps I should stop thinking about my work as a hobby – after all, is it possible to have two different serious hobbies or obsessions and do well with both? And I certainly don’t want Salsa to become my work.
By Tuesday, I found myself with very little energy. I went to play basketball for first time in 3 weeks. At the start of the game, I felt as if I only had quarter of tank of gas in me, and I was running on fumes for last 10-15 minutes or so. This is so unusual; normally I would be outrunning everyone near the end of the game. Only by Thursday did I feel somewhat recovered. Even though I am thinking that I need to cut down on Salsa somehow (especially if I end up keep acting as DJ on Fridays as well as working on fundamentals with Sergio), I decided to continue with the Thursday lessons for another week, but Sally wasn’t there tonight. Instead, Ivan and Jane acted as substitute instructors. Warm-up music used was “Get it up,” courtesy of Rajiv.
Intermediate with Ivan with Jane
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL with 2 1/2 clockwise traveling turn for follower with L-R ending in arm-lock (L position for both)
1,2,3,5,6,7 clockwise L-R toss on 1,2,3 – reconnect to lead follower to a full clockwise turn on 5,6,7
1,2,3,5,6,7 step to follower’s R on 1 (into tight closed hold ~CBL-like position), turn as unit 180 or 1/2 counterclockwise into CBL position and finish CBL and switch to R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 into CBL again with R-R straight down and slightly forward along follower’s line (keep arms straight) – 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn for follower (windmill lead) ending with toss – leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise and connect L-R by leader’s L waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower forward – reconnect R-L and lead follower into 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn to get back to open
1,2,3,5,6,7 prepare and lead follower into double clockwise turn - pulling the zipper after the first turn to get R-L behind follower’s R waist
1,2,3,5,6,7 connect L-R and exchange position with follower on 1,2,3 (from follower’s left position) with L-R going over follower’s head – need to keep tension and keep follower fairly close – bring follower around to behind leader via leader’s R side (both connections end up above leader’s L shoulder)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and lead follower forward on leader’s L side and into 1 1/2 traveling clockwise turn to get back to open
During the second hour of classes, I spied Ivan teaching around-the-world move to the improver class. It seemed like many people were doing pretty well with the move. It’s not long ago when I wrote about having an “around-the-world” envy – maybe January? I ended up working it out for myself after some effort and now lead it with pretty much everyone. Now I suspect everyone will be leading it in no time. I saw that Jane’s beyond beginner class was severely short of leaders, so I decided to help out with this class – hopefully I did more good than harm.
Dancing afterwards was uneven despite there being a lot of good dancersdancers (perhaps due to the Ivan effect). There were many good dances but there were also many dances that were either too much or too little (for lack of better words). Often I couldn’t find the right balance with the way I was leading the dance. I also am finding that some of the New York style material taught by Joe is unfamiliar and too subtle to a lot of people. I think people will adapt to them though, some sooner than others.
Music was adventuresome. I think Ivan was sticking mostly to classics and Salsa Dura and with touch of recent (but before my time) odd hits. Some of the songs he played were songs I considered playing tomorrow – “Nina Y Senora” by Tito Puente was a particularly amusing example for me, and “Quinto Sabroso” by Joe Cuba Sextet (apparently with Jose “Cheo” Feliciano) was another example. At one point, I told Ivan that people would have tried to lynch him if he tried playing some of tonight’s songs about a month ago on a Friday. Ivan commented that he had tried DJing on Fridays in the past and that he found it very tricky because of a very mixed constituency represented on Fridays. Apparently with tonight’s crowd mostly being well known to him, Ivan felt freer playing whatever he liked.
Interestingly, the music became even more adventuresome and possibly questionable at times when Vishal took over for Ivan. I wasn’t even sure if some of the songs would be considered proper Salsa. I would have considered one early song Reggaeton, but what do I know? At one point, I turned to ask Jane whether the song being played at that time would be considered Salsa. Jane thought it sounded more like Samba but she may not have been completely sure about it. In any case, there must have been 6-10 Salsa songs in a row that I did not recognize. I guess Vishal wants more Salsa with R & B feel to it; he has said this on more than one occasion to me. I guess I have been pretty loud in talking about wanting less of the same old same old, so I really should not be complaining of other people playing different sounding songs. Different people have different taste regarding type of music they like to dance Salsa to; I probably would play mostly instrumental tracks with jazzy feel (both complex and mellow) more than half the time if I were playing solely for myself.
Couple of Bachata was thrown by Vishal in later in the evening, which meant that I finally had some opportunity to practice Bachata; I haven’t had much of an opportunity in any manner after the Tony & Claudia workshop. I have been regretting declining an opportunity to dance Bachata with Daniela last week, and this regret was more acute than ever tonight. I certainly don’t think of myself as a natural in partner dancing. Considering how long it took me to get used to Salsa, I must wonder how difficult Bachata would be especially considering that it requires more comfort level (at least at the outset) with one’s partner to dance it well. Knowing the mechanics of the lead for Bachata thus far has not been difficult. Getting the proper mindset or attitude or command or other intangibles is more elusive. To top it off with musicality makes it even more challenging to practice. I wonder how much practice in private you-know-who had if any or if it came naturally very quickly.
Who knows? Maybe I will get in trouble anyway. Maybe I’ll get myself in trouble by some self-fulfilling method. Maybe I did it already. I don’t think I’m going to get much sleep tonight. [Added later: sleep turned out fairly restful – at least I didn’t feel tired or bothered when I woke up.]
Other topics at Club Salsa included another assessment of Bar Salsa on Mondays (pro - it lasts longer; con - alcohol drinkers), further talk of muscles regarding tension, Cache (I’m thinking and hoping that it would have more than one good track – Descarga.com review gives me hope), CDC Salsa night upcoming in Tuesday 9th of May (with Cambiando playing live), volume of music ("Is it getting louder here on Wednesdays and Thursdays?"), and the Bognor Congress (some people will indeed be booking this month - it makes sense if one is sure of going).
Is there anyone else who finds these lessons useful?
April 24, 2006
Intermediate - Latin Collective - Joe Davids with Russell
1,2,3,5,6,7 High cross pass ending with R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 crossed hold L-L under R-R, prepare and lead follower to a double turn (not touch-and-go) keeping wrists together – leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise keeping hands high throughout when follower is done with her turn (on 7/8 preferably) – end position is something like reverse CBL open position with crossed hold with L-L on top [note: without leader’s turn R-R should be pointing upwards… not sure what the exit from that position would be…]
1,2,3 bring follower forward immediately on 1 into crucifix position by 3 – leader ideally should be directly behind or even to slightly to left … although this could be fudged with a modified lead next (bringing follower slightly to right)
5,6,7 bring follower straight back (mostly with R-R?) – leader moves to left arm/hand of follower (all connections released) and spin around follower’s L hand counterclockwise into CBL position and getting into R-L wrist hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 in place for CBL, bring follower forward on 4 using R-L on follower’s L wrist – L hand on follower’s L waist (slicing motion was suggested by Russell) to signal free 1 1/2 traveling counterclockwise turn for follower – I think leader does a clockwise turn before getting back to closed hold
Improver - Joe Davids
1,2,3,5,6,7 low cross pass ending with L-R behind leader’s R waist with leader facing away from the line
option 1
1,2,3 open break (look to follower on R), bring follower in and get L hand on follower’s R waist for Copa (look to follower on L)
5,6,7 lead follower back for Copa (free 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn - look to follower on R) – keep R arm straight along follower’s returning line with palm facing away to get back to closed hold (followed by CBL)
option 2
1,2,3 open break, bring follower in (on 2, step to R forward away from follower’s line and turn 1/2 counterclockwise) and get hands on follower’s waist for Copa
5,6,7 lead follower back for free 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn (and get back to closed hold for CBL)
option 3
1,2,3 open break, bring follower in (on 2, step to R forward away from follower’s line and turn 1/2 counterclockwise) and get hands on follower’s waist for Copa
5,6,7 lead follower back for free 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn and leader does a full counterclockwise turn before getting into closed hold (followed by CBL is fine)
The class for the second hour was the largest thus far. Despite the Scala this weekend, the Monday class will not be cancelled next week as Vishal originally guessed. Next two weeks may give a good indication as how Monday classes will shape up. For a few weeks now, Joe has been talking about possibility of bringing 3 teachers to run three 2-hour classes simultaneously. Today he repeated the idea as well as bringing up an idea of a half an hour absolute beginners class starting at 7 PM (free of charge? – I’m not sure about this). I have no idea how or if the financial arrangement would be modified with 3 teachers. I also have no idea how a change in class format would jive with the so-called 20-week plan. Personally, I don't mind the current setup at all because the first hour is something of an exercise, which I don't think I could duplicate on a real dance unless I could find time, etc to practice, whereas the second hour has fair bit of immediately useful material (although I must say that some of these are getting more challenging and possibly foreign to large number of followers). By the way, I think we must have gone through 10 weeks thus far and I’m fairly certain that I am the only lead who has attended all 10 lessons (I don’t think anyone else is even close and perhaps around half dozen other leads have attended more than half of the lessons).
The class ended with a short 5 minute Merengue lesson. I suppose it was a bonus instant gratification material for a large contingent of total beginners who showed up today.
Dance afterwards was pretty fun. I danced with about half a dozen followers. I seemed to be in a pretty bouncy mood for a number of the songs/dances. I probably looked like a total idiot bouncing around, but I couldn't care less about looking silly. Even if I looked silly, I had a blast.
Somewhat like last Thursday, part of the evening was spent reviewing Tony’s workshop material with some friends in an effort to get the moves seen in the Cambridge Salsa scene. Planting the initial seed is going to be the difficult part.
new shine (name?)
1,2,3,5 basic Mambo
6 slide forward with L foot
7 R toe behind L foot
8 R step behind L foot
1 L toe crossed in front of R foot
2 step slightly back with R foot
3 L toe crossed in front of R foot
4 L foot step in place
6 R toe crossed behind L foot
7 step slightly forward with L foot
8 L foot toe (like bunny hop?)
1 basic Mambo
Many of the short shines used at SOS at the end of the class this Sunday was identical to the short shines taught by Joe Davids over last few months. This is not exactly a surprise since these short shines are probably considered fairly standard. SOS people don’t go over what they are doing at the end (or not to my knowledge) for reasons unknown to me – their approach seemed to be, “If you could follow what we’re doing, that’s great. If not, try your best to follow along.”
Also while I don't want to go back to making disclaimers all the time again, the routines and shines described are my interpretations and may not reflect instructor's ideas. The reason why mention this (belatedly) is because Tony Lara saw my interpretation of his shine from February and said that it looked like I completely reinterpreted it and his shine is rather different looking. I'm fairly sure that I do bunny hop differently from Joe Davids.
Intermediate - Latin Collective - Joe Davids with Russell
1,2,3,5,6,7 High cross pass ending with R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 crossed hold L-L under R-R, prepare and lead follower to a double turn (not touch-and-go) keeping wrists together – leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise keeping hands high throughout when follower is done with her turn (on 7/8 preferably) – end position is something like reverse CBL open position with crossed hold with L-L on top [note: without leader’s turn R-R should be pointing upwards… not sure what the exit from that position would be…]
1,2,3 bring follower forward immediately on 1 into crucifix position by 3 – leader ideally should be directly behind or even to slightly to left … although this could be fudged with a modified lead next (bringing follower slightly to right)
5,6,7 bring follower straight back (mostly with R-R?) – leader moves to left arm/hand of follower (all connections released) and spin around follower’s L hand counterclockwise into CBL position and getting into R-L wrist hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 in place for CBL, bring follower forward on 4 using R-L on follower’s L wrist – L hand on follower’s L waist (slicing motion was suggested by Russell) to signal free 1 1/2 traveling counterclockwise turn for follower – I think leader does a clockwise turn before getting back to closed hold
Improver - Joe Davids
1,2,3,5,6,7 low cross pass ending with L-R behind leader’s R waist with leader facing away from the line
option 1
1,2,3 open break (look to follower on R), bring follower in and get L hand on follower’s R waist for Copa (look to follower on L)
5,6,7 lead follower back for Copa (free 1 1/2 counterclockwise traveling turn - look to follower on R) – keep R arm straight along follower’s returning line with palm facing away to get back to closed hold (followed by CBL)
option 2
1,2,3 open break, bring follower in (on 2, step to R forward away from follower’s line and turn 1/2 counterclockwise) and get hands on follower’s waist for Copa
5,6,7 lead follower back for free 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn (and get back to closed hold for CBL)
option 3
1,2,3 open break, bring follower in (on 2, step to R forward away from follower’s line and turn 1/2 counterclockwise) and get hands on follower’s waist for Copa
5,6,7 lead follower back for free 1 1/2 counterclockwise Copa turn and leader does a full counterclockwise turn before getting into closed hold (followed by CBL is fine)
The class for the second hour was the largest thus far. Despite the Scala this weekend, the Monday class will not be cancelled next week as Vishal originally guessed. Next two weeks may give a good indication as how Monday classes will shape up. For a few weeks now, Joe has been talking about possibility of bringing 3 teachers to run three 2-hour classes simultaneously. Today he repeated the idea as well as bringing up an idea of a half an hour absolute beginners class starting at 7 PM (free of charge? – I’m not sure about this). I have no idea how or if the financial arrangement would be modified with 3 teachers. I also have no idea how a change in class format would jive with the so-called 20-week plan. Personally, I don't mind the current setup at all because the first hour is something of an exercise, which I don't think I could duplicate on a real dance unless I could find time, etc to practice, whereas the second hour has fair bit of immediately useful material (although I must say that some of these are getting more challenging and possibly foreign to large number of followers). By the way, I think we must have gone through 10 weeks thus far and I’m fairly certain that I am the only lead who has attended all 10 lessons (I don’t think anyone else is even close and perhaps around half dozen other leads have attended more than half of the lessons).
The class ended with a short 5 minute Merengue lesson. I suppose it was a bonus instant gratification material for a large contingent of total beginners who showed up today.
Dance afterwards was pretty fun. I danced with about half a dozen followers. I seemed to be in a pretty bouncy mood for a number of the songs/dances. I probably looked like a total idiot bouncing around, but I couldn't care less about looking silly. Even if I looked silly, I had a blast.
Somewhat like last Thursday, part of the evening was spent reviewing Tony’s workshop material with some friends in an effort to get the moves seen in the Cambridge Salsa scene. Planting the initial seed is going to be the difficult part.
new shine (name?)
1,2,3,5 basic Mambo
6 slide forward with L foot
7 R toe behind L foot
8 R step behind L foot
1 L toe crossed in front of R foot
2 step slightly back with R foot
3 L toe crossed in front of R foot
4 L foot step in place
6 R toe crossed behind L foot
7 step slightly forward with L foot
8 L foot toe (like bunny hop?)
1 basic Mambo
Many of the short shines used at SOS at the end of the class this Sunday was identical to the short shines taught by Joe Davids over last few months. This is not exactly a surprise since these short shines are probably considered fairly standard. SOS people don’t go over what they are doing at the end (or not to my knowledge) for reasons unknown to me – their approach seemed to be, “If you could follow what we’re doing, that’s great. If not, try your best to follow along.”
Also while I don't want to go back to making disclaimers all the time again, the routines and shines described are my interpretations and may not reflect instructor's ideas. The reason why mention this (belatedly) is because Tony Lara saw my interpretation of his shine from February and said that it looked like I completely reinterpreted it and his shine is rather different looking. I'm fairly sure that I do bunny hop differently from Joe Davids.
It's not an addiction but it might as well be one
April 23, 2006
Johnny wrote, "Hello. Are you going to SOS?"
When I received this short e-mail, my brain started scrambling to accommodate this new and previously unconsidered option. Even though I have been thinking that this Salsa hobby is becoming too much of an obsession, I was thinking that I would probably go to Cristian's Bachata/Merengue class Sunday night. However, it has been over two months since I last visited SOS. Next week is no good because of London Heathrow Salsa Congress AND ScalaLatina - even though I'm guessing that I will go to neither. For the Sunday after that, I have been trying to convince myself to try going to Cristian's Peterborough party - in large part because he has made repeated effort to get me to come and also because it seems like we are now in pretty good terms with each other and also because idea of the dance and the DJ competition at Peterborough seems like a hoot. Going without SOS for three months seems like a long time. Also going to SOS means one less day spent at Club Salsa, which is becoming too much of a regular haunt. Also it has been a while since I hung around with Johnny & Serap except for brief moments on Fridays. Also, I'm finding myself thinking about various people - old and new people, "new" acquaintances as well as people I haven't seen in a while - in Cambridge Salsa scene way too much and could use a break or at least trade them with people in London Salsa scene for a short time. Oh no. There's no escape, no? I initially wrote back to say that I will think about it, but my mind was pretty much made up by then and it didn't take long for me to confirm that I will indeed go to SOS. This trip may do something that the Scala trip failed to do, which was to give me a better idea of where I am by London standards.
As we approached Mary Ward Hall on foot, I asked Johnny whether it would be useful for me to try level 4, in particular the shines class. His thought was that I would probably learn more useful things in level 3 because he considered level 4 to be more of an exercise in extremely difficult to nearly impossible moves. He also added that a nice thing about taking level 4 class was that you get to meet some of the better students. This was not a compelling reason for me because I have danced with many level 4 students, and many of them were perfectly happy to dance with me – some level 4 students are pretty decent while others are no better than some level 3 students. I have also danced with people who are considerably better than anyone taking level 4 classes while keeping them happy and interested. My main reason for trying level 4 would have been to try something much more difficult than I am used to simply to increase my threshold for difficult lessons. Johnny also mentioned that sometimes people crash the class, but sometimes some people would be kicked off the class at the start of the class so it would be a good idea to ask first; I had intended to ask in the first place so this didn’t faze me.
I saw that Tamambo was there today when I entered the hall, saw I decided to approach him and ask whether I could try level 4 class – at least the shines part. For some reason, he looked a little alarmed when I asked my question. He said, “You scared me there for a moment. I thought you were going to ask something a lot more serious.” I have no idea why but he was apparently intimidated by me. Weird. He thought about it for a second or two more and said, “Sure. Feel free.”
Because we arrived fairly early, I had a pretty good look at Mauro and Eva practice a partner routine, which I assumed was for the level 3 class – this routine seemed fairly challenging. I also had a pretty good look at the shine by Mauro, and I thought it looked quite nice. So I was wavering a bit about taking the level 4 class. By the way, I have seen some SOS level 3 class routines and shines, which I found somewhat dull – this was a reason why I thought I might want to try level 4. Having watched Mauro and Eva’s material, I was thinking that I might have chosen a wrong time to try to jump up a class. When I saw Tamambo and Miriam’s routine, I decided that I’ll just try the shines for level 4. Unfortunately, the shine for level 4 also seemed bloody difficult as well (only 2 bars long) so I quickly decided to abandon this as well and jump right back into the safety of level 3 shine. By the way, Tamambo came by later to ask what happened – to which I replied that I didn’t feel ready for today’s class. Tamambo said that they were trying something a bit different today thus he was a little hesitant about saying yes to me earlier. No harm done. Johnny confirmed to me later that today’s level 4 class was especially difficult compared to last several classed he attended.
Shine – SOS Level 3 with Mauro
8 L foot cross behind R foot
1 L foot slightly to L
2,3 kick to L (hand to L and look L as well) and back cross behind R foot
5,6,7 R foot slide wide to R, then cross in front of L foot, then slide wide to R (syncopated?)
8 R foot cross behind L foot
1 L foot side to L
3 L foot back cross in front of R foot
5,6,7 suzy Q
1 L foot forward
2 slide back long landing on R foot
3 L foot in front of R foot
5 R foot cross in front of L foot (syncopated?)
6 L foot cross in front of R foot
7 R foot cross in front of L foot
Partner work – SOS Level 3 with Maura & Eva
open hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower in like CBL position with L-R high and R-L low (level in position on 3) – use R-L to turn follower 1/2 clockwise on 5 (R-L is on follower’s R waist/hip momentarily and is let go after 6) and bring her back on 6,7 turning back 1/2 counterclockwise while leader gets back to original position with counterclockwise turn (keep fairly close with arms not extended)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and L-R goes over follower’s head like Copa (keep L arm straight) – lead follower back like Copa (but I’m completely unsure why this would lead to follower simply walking back into open position without a Copa-like turn) – leader does a clockwise turn to get back to open and reconnect R-R (An awkward part is that leader ends up to R of follower and next move involves getting follower to leader’s L side. This is a little weird because follower ends up not staying to her line so the lead for the next bar would have to be different.)
1,2,3,5,6,7 This is somewhat similar to the first bar but not really. Open break and bring follower in slightly on leader’s L side with L hand on follower’s L shoulder – step back on 5 while follower is brought to turn 1/2 clockwise and bring her back on 6,7 turning back 1/2 counterclockwise
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader walks 1/2 clockwise with L-R high to get back to open CBL position – lead follower forward on 5 and start of windmill turn lead to get follower to turn free clockwise 1 1/2 traveling turn – leader does clockwise turn starting on 6 maybe to get back to open position
Mauro was on some people's case (without saying who he was referring to) about not doing simple basic footwork during the routine. I know I often don't do all the steps - it's not automatic for me. I don't know how others were doing because I was concentrating on doing my part. I have seen that some people can get pretty lazy with their feet in the past though.
Dancing afterwards was pretty good and interesting. Three hours of solid social dancing made my feet a little sore by the end. I danced with two people who I felt was somewhat above my level – although in both cases, I don’t think they were in any way displeased about dancing with me. In addition, I danced with two or three people who I thought was very close to my level and was without deficiencies I could find from a single dance. It's possible that I might have considered them better than me had I not known them for quite some time. In most cases though, it felt like my partners were not quite on spot with their pace or timing or technique or had some odd tic, which I found distracting – then again, I’m stumbling all the time too. A few were no better than improvers. My assessment was that I might be considered above average by SOS standard now assuming that this was a typical SOS night.
What does it mean? UK Salsa scene has its superstars, top instructors, good quality instructors and performers, semi-professionals, and social dancers who would be considered on par with some of the professionals. I’m none of those, and I only dance with these types seldom - these dances are really nice as long as I don't get too intimidated and my brain locks up. Dancing with people who follows everything I lead is becoming infrequent so I end up trying to savor the moment more than using them as more practice material. It's a bit of a paradox - trying something difficult with really good followers is more likely to work, but I often would be more hesitant to try leading many difficult moves with them because I don't want to make too many mistakes, which may make them more reluctant to dance with me in the future. In the end, I end up trying about the same number of difficult or experimental moves regardless of my partner's abilities (assuming that they meet certain standards). I suppose this explains partly why I usually don't bother asking "stars" often for a dance.
We gained one more person for the drive back to Cambridge. The Cambridge contingent was fairly light (5 in all) - perhaps in part because of railroad works making travel from and to Cambridge a major hassle. Joe was there (presumably to take a light break between two Scala weekends), but he doesn't really count. Main topic on the way back was music - in part inspired by listening to a new CD containing large number of Salsa and Bachata hits made for our fourth. A big topic going into London was teacher/proprietor business models.
Johnny wrote, "Hello. Are you going to SOS?"
When I received this short e-mail, my brain started scrambling to accommodate this new and previously unconsidered option. Even though I have been thinking that this Salsa hobby is becoming too much of an obsession, I was thinking that I would probably go to Cristian's Bachata/Merengue class Sunday night. However, it has been over two months since I last visited SOS. Next week is no good because of London Heathrow Salsa Congress AND ScalaLatina - even though I'm guessing that I will go to neither. For the Sunday after that, I have been trying to convince myself to try going to Cristian's Peterborough party - in large part because he has made repeated effort to get me to come and also because it seems like we are now in pretty good terms with each other and also because idea of the dance and the DJ competition at Peterborough seems like a hoot. Going without SOS for three months seems like a long time. Also going to SOS means one less day spent at Club Salsa, which is becoming too much of a regular haunt. Also it has been a while since I hung around with Johnny & Serap except for brief moments on Fridays. Also, I'm finding myself thinking about various people - old and new people, "new" acquaintances as well as people I haven't seen in a while - in Cambridge Salsa scene way too much and could use a break or at least trade them with people in London Salsa scene for a short time. Oh no. There's no escape, no? I initially wrote back to say that I will think about it, but my mind was pretty much made up by then and it didn't take long for me to confirm that I will indeed go to SOS. This trip may do something that the Scala trip failed to do, which was to give me a better idea of where I am by London standards.
As we approached Mary Ward Hall on foot, I asked Johnny whether it would be useful for me to try level 4, in particular the shines class. His thought was that I would probably learn more useful things in level 3 because he considered level 4 to be more of an exercise in extremely difficult to nearly impossible moves. He also added that a nice thing about taking level 4 class was that you get to meet some of the better students. This was not a compelling reason for me because I have danced with many level 4 students, and many of them were perfectly happy to dance with me – some level 4 students are pretty decent while others are no better than some level 3 students. I have also danced with people who are considerably better than anyone taking level 4 classes while keeping them happy and interested. My main reason for trying level 4 would have been to try something much more difficult than I am used to simply to increase my threshold for difficult lessons. Johnny also mentioned that sometimes people crash the class, but sometimes some people would be kicked off the class at the start of the class so it would be a good idea to ask first; I had intended to ask in the first place so this didn’t faze me.
I saw that Tamambo was there today when I entered the hall, saw I decided to approach him and ask whether I could try level 4 class – at least the shines part. For some reason, he looked a little alarmed when I asked my question. He said, “You scared me there for a moment. I thought you were going to ask something a lot more serious.” I have no idea why but he was apparently intimidated by me. Weird. He thought about it for a second or two more and said, “Sure. Feel free.”
Because we arrived fairly early, I had a pretty good look at Mauro and Eva practice a partner routine, which I assumed was for the level 3 class – this routine seemed fairly challenging. I also had a pretty good look at the shine by Mauro, and I thought it looked quite nice. So I was wavering a bit about taking the level 4 class. By the way, I have seen some SOS level 3 class routines and shines, which I found somewhat dull – this was a reason why I thought I might want to try level 4. Having watched Mauro and Eva’s material, I was thinking that I might have chosen a wrong time to try to jump up a class. When I saw Tamambo and Miriam’s routine, I decided that I’ll just try the shines for level 4. Unfortunately, the shine for level 4 also seemed bloody difficult as well (only 2 bars long) so I quickly decided to abandon this as well and jump right back into the safety of level 3 shine. By the way, Tamambo came by later to ask what happened – to which I replied that I didn’t feel ready for today’s class. Tamambo said that they were trying something a bit different today thus he was a little hesitant about saying yes to me earlier. No harm done. Johnny confirmed to me later that today’s level 4 class was especially difficult compared to last several classed he attended.
Shine – SOS Level 3 with Mauro
8 L foot cross behind R foot
1 L foot slightly to L
2,3 kick to L (hand to L and look L as well) and back cross behind R foot
5,6,7 R foot slide wide to R, then cross in front of L foot, then slide wide to R (syncopated?)
8 R foot cross behind L foot
1 L foot side to L
3 L foot back cross in front of R foot
5,6,7 suzy Q
1 L foot forward
2 slide back long landing on R foot
3 L foot in front of R foot
5 R foot cross in front of L foot (syncopated?)
6 L foot cross in front of R foot
7 R foot cross in front of L foot
Partner work – SOS Level 3 with Maura & Eva
open hold
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower in like CBL position with L-R high and R-L low (level in position on 3) – use R-L to turn follower 1/2 clockwise on 5 (R-L is on follower’s R waist/hip momentarily and is let go after 6) and bring her back on 6,7 turning back 1/2 counterclockwise while leader gets back to original position with counterclockwise turn (keep fairly close with arms not extended)
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and L-R goes over follower’s head like Copa (keep L arm straight) – lead follower back like Copa (but I’m completely unsure why this would lead to follower simply walking back into open position without a Copa-like turn) – leader does a clockwise turn to get back to open and reconnect R-R (An awkward part is that leader ends up to R of follower and next move involves getting follower to leader’s L side. This is a little weird because follower ends up not staying to her line so the lead for the next bar would have to be different.)
1,2,3,5,6,7 This is somewhat similar to the first bar but not really. Open break and bring follower in slightly on leader’s L side with L hand on follower’s L shoulder – step back on 5 while follower is brought to turn 1/2 clockwise and bring her back on 6,7 turning back 1/2 counterclockwise
1,2,3,5,6,7 leader walks 1/2 clockwise with L-R high to get back to open CBL position – lead follower forward on 5 and start of windmill turn lead to get follower to turn free clockwise 1 1/2 traveling turn – leader does clockwise turn starting on 6 maybe to get back to open position
Mauro was on some people's case (without saying who he was referring to) about not doing simple basic footwork during the routine. I know I often don't do all the steps - it's not automatic for me. I don't know how others were doing because I was concentrating on doing my part. I have seen that some people can get pretty lazy with their feet in the past though.
Dancing afterwards was pretty good and interesting. Three hours of solid social dancing made my feet a little sore by the end. I danced with two people who I felt was somewhat above my level – although in both cases, I don’t think they were in any way displeased about dancing with me. In addition, I danced with two or three people who I thought was very close to my level and was without deficiencies I could find from a single dance. It's possible that I might have considered them better than me had I not known them for quite some time. In most cases though, it felt like my partners were not quite on spot with their pace or timing or technique or had some odd tic, which I found distracting – then again, I’m stumbling all the time too. A few were no better than improvers. My assessment was that I might be considered above average by SOS standard now assuming that this was a typical SOS night.
What does it mean? UK Salsa scene has its superstars, top instructors, good quality instructors and performers, semi-professionals, and social dancers who would be considered on par with some of the professionals. I’m none of those, and I only dance with these types seldom - these dances are really nice as long as I don't get too intimidated and my brain locks up. Dancing with people who follows everything I lead is becoming infrequent so I end up trying to savor the moment more than using them as more practice material. It's a bit of a paradox - trying something difficult with really good followers is more likely to work, but I often would be more hesitant to try leading many difficult moves with them because I don't want to make too many mistakes, which may make them more reluctant to dance with me in the future. In the end, I end up trying about the same number of difficult or experimental moves regardless of my partner's abilities (assuming that they meet certain standards). I suppose this explains partly why I usually don't bother asking "stars" often for a dance.
We gained one more person for the drive back to Cambridge. The Cambridge contingent was fairly light (5 in all) - perhaps in part because of railroad works making travel from and to Cambridge a major hassle. Joe was there (presumably to take a light break between two Scala weekends), but he doesn't really count. Main topic on the way back was music - in part inspired by listening to a new CD containing large number of Salsa and Bachata hits made for our fourth. A big topic going into London was teacher/proprietor business models.
Madman running the asylum
April 21, 2006
Enrique is away on a vacation, so I took the opportunity to run the DJ booth once again.
Playlist
Bailando – Frankie Ruiz
El Pito – Joe Cuba Sextet (+7%) (1)
Miye Na We – Africando
Micaela – Sonora Carruseles
Acabo De Llegar – Tabaco Y Ron
Amor De Una Noche – N’Klabe (2)
Anacaona – Cheo Feliciano
Mi Gente – Oscar D’Leon
El # 100 – Tito Puente (3)
1-800-Quiereme – Luisito Rosario
La 33 – La 33
Etnia – Grupo Niche
Indestructible – Ray Barretto (-7%) (4)
I Love Salsa – N’Klabe (-2%) (5)
Ven Tu – Dominic Marte
Merengue Track #1 borrowed from Vishal
Es La Musica – Massimo Scalici (6)
Fragile – Massimo Scalici (7)
Babarabatiri – Tito Puente (8)
Celia Y Tito – Tito Puente with Celia Cruz
Salsa Y Control – Lebron Brothers
Abran Paso – Orchestra Harlow
Vamonos Pa’l Monte – Eddie Palmieri (9)
Te Quiero – Oliver
Merengue Track #3 borrowed from Vishal
Get It Up – Eurocuban Project (10)
Esto Es El Guaguanco – Cheo Feliciano
Otra Oportunidad – Jimmy Bosch
Ran Kan Kan – Tito Puente (11)
Picadillo – Cal Tjader & Eddie Palmieri
Bongo Loco – Lebron Brothers
Tumbando Cabeza – Tabaco Y Ron (-10%?) (12)
Duele Mas – Grupo Niche (13)
Pantera Mambo – La 33 (14)
Paris Mambo – Tito Puente & Eddie Palmieri (-7%)
Lamento Boliviano – Toque D’ Keda (15)
You Will Remember Me – Dominic Marte (16)
(1) This is the second time I played this song. I think it works better speeded up.
(2) This is the second time I played this song as well. A song can be played for the first time only once. It was played at Scala last Sunday as well.
(3) Another second time song. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record. Three other songs up to this point (not counting the two mentioned above) were also played for the second time. In any case, this song seems like a popular choice.
(4) I always thought this song was too fast for dancing. Now that I know how to slow down the song without making it sound very different, I feel safer playing it. This opens up quite a bit of options for playing other fast songs.
(5) I would have considered slowing this song even more, but I knew that I was going to play a non-Salsa song next so I decided to keep it fairly fast paced.
(6) Many people must have thought, “What the heck?” when this track came on. It took about 30-40 seconds for the dance floor to fill up. Thanks to iDJ Tony Lara.
(7) Mellow. They like it. Up to this point, I had been counting the number of people dancing on the main floor. The numbers ranged from 6 couples to 12 couples on the main floor plus two to four couples on side floors. I stopped counting after this because the dance floor was pretty much full rest of the evening despite there being relatively small number of people in the venue.
(8) By the way, yesterday was Tito Puente’s birthday. Someone asked for another Merengue during this song or maybe the next song. I told him that I’ll try in another 20 minutes or so.
(9) This song seemed to speed up towards the end. It’s a long song too. I was going to put another Salsa song but I decided that a break would be a very good idea.
(10) Another big surprise except to those who were at my private party on Tuesday. Shortly before I put on this song, a request for Salsa Romantica or a slower song was made. There was another more specific request which would take couple of weeks to fulfill.
(11) Older version with vibraphone.
(12) I was considering playing Eddie Palmieri’s “Adoracion” a couple of times during the evening. This is a very fast song so I was playing with slowing the song a great deal. I ended up deciding not to play the song, but I accidentally left the slow setting on for this song.
(13) I’m not quite sure what happened. Maybe some people decided to skip this song in part because it was too familiar. Everyone decided to watch the new kid with super energy dance instead.
(14) This choice was in response to no one else dancing during the last song.
(15) I thought this was going to be my last song.
(16) But I played one more Bachata. I had Ray Barretto’s “Cocinando” loaded in case Vishal did not show up. “Cocinando” by the way is a 10+ minute Cha Cha Cha tune.
Total of 37 songs were played – 31 Salsa, 4 Bachata, 2 Merengue. Six Salsa songs probably qualify as typical Club Salsa Friday staple (Bailando, Miye Na We, Micaela, Otra Oportunidad, Duele Mas and maybe Etnia) from the past. A few other songs played were different versions of the usual diet of songs. La 33 is quite popular on Thursday evenings.
I was exhausted by the end; it took me about 10-15 minutes to get enough energy for a dance. It didn’t take me very long to warm up, but over half of good dancers were gone before I had chance to ask them for a dance. Oh well. It’s a penalty for DJing. I don’t think we had a night like this at Club Salsa on Fridays since … ever? I hazard to guess that unique would be a good description for tonight. Most people heard some of the songs I played tonight for the very first time in their life – this is going to happen only once. The impact will not be as great because the surprise factor will be gone next time I play these new songs.
Very large number of excellent CBL dancers was present tonight, and they were enjoying fairly good amount of space on the main floor. I bet I would have had a great time dancing tonight if someone else played the music I played – better than Scala last weekend and better than many SOS nights. As it was, dancing for me was quite good – considerably better than a typical evening at Club Salsa.
I received several compliments for a good job done as a DJ. Same or some other people made the same comment to Vishal. Of course, I know that it would not have been as good if there weren’t all those good dancers out there tonight to take advantage of whatever I played. In fact, I think it’s quite possible that any half decent DJ would have had a similar successful evening given the conditions (large number of good dancers and reasonable amount of space) tonight. If people think tonight’s set was good, they should have been here to listen to Tony Lara’s set on Tuesday.
An interesting, nice yet somewhat funny/strange/awkward comment I received tonight was from a person who told me that she always thought of me as a swan. Whoa! The first thing that came to my mind was the Ugly Duckling story. I’m not sure if this was the story in her mind, but the explanation was that I am like a swan because I’m graceful. Oh my. Oh no. This is too embarrassing – I can imagine getting jeered or made fun of by some of my blog readers. I guess it’s a nice compliment, but I was and am quite flabbergasted and more or less wished that I hadn’t heard it. I guess being graceful is good but … err … it’s not exactly manly unless Mikhail Baryshnikov were to be considered a sex symbol, is it? By the way, this person has known me for more than a year in the Salsa scene or back when I was feeling barely confident enough to start dancing Salsa after classes. I guess I must hide my stumbles fairly well from uncritical eyes.
Enrique is away on a vacation, so I took the opportunity to run the DJ booth once again.
Playlist
Bailando – Frankie Ruiz
El Pito – Joe Cuba Sextet (+7%) (1)
Miye Na We – Africando
Micaela – Sonora Carruseles
Acabo De Llegar – Tabaco Y Ron
Amor De Una Noche – N’Klabe (2)
Anacaona – Cheo Feliciano
Mi Gente – Oscar D’Leon
El # 100 – Tito Puente (3)
1-800-Quiereme – Luisito Rosario
La 33 – La 33
Etnia – Grupo Niche
Indestructible – Ray Barretto (-7%) (4)
I Love Salsa – N’Klabe (-2%) (5)
Ven Tu – Dominic Marte
Merengue Track #1 borrowed from Vishal
Es La Musica – Massimo Scalici (6)
Fragile – Massimo Scalici (7)
Babarabatiri – Tito Puente (8)
Celia Y Tito – Tito Puente with Celia Cruz
Salsa Y Control – Lebron Brothers
Abran Paso – Orchestra Harlow
Vamonos Pa’l Monte – Eddie Palmieri (9)
Te Quiero – Oliver
Merengue Track #3 borrowed from Vishal
Get It Up – Eurocuban Project (10)
Esto Es El Guaguanco – Cheo Feliciano
Otra Oportunidad – Jimmy Bosch
Ran Kan Kan – Tito Puente (11)
Picadillo – Cal Tjader & Eddie Palmieri
Bongo Loco – Lebron Brothers
Tumbando Cabeza – Tabaco Y Ron (-10%?) (12)
Duele Mas – Grupo Niche (13)
Pantera Mambo – La 33 (14)
Paris Mambo – Tito Puente & Eddie Palmieri (-7%)
Lamento Boliviano – Toque D’ Keda (15)
You Will Remember Me – Dominic Marte (16)
(1) This is the second time I played this song. I think it works better speeded up.
(2) This is the second time I played this song as well. A song can be played for the first time only once. It was played at Scala last Sunday as well.
(3) Another second time song. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record. Three other songs up to this point (not counting the two mentioned above) were also played for the second time. In any case, this song seems like a popular choice.
(4) I always thought this song was too fast for dancing. Now that I know how to slow down the song without making it sound very different, I feel safer playing it. This opens up quite a bit of options for playing other fast songs.
(5) I would have considered slowing this song even more, but I knew that I was going to play a non-Salsa song next so I decided to keep it fairly fast paced.
(6) Many people must have thought, “What the heck?” when this track came on. It took about 30-40 seconds for the dance floor to fill up. Thanks to iDJ Tony Lara.
(7) Mellow. They like it. Up to this point, I had been counting the number of people dancing on the main floor. The numbers ranged from 6 couples to 12 couples on the main floor plus two to four couples on side floors. I stopped counting after this because the dance floor was pretty much full rest of the evening despite there being relatively small number of people in the venue.
(8) By the way, yesterday was Tito Puente’s birthday. Someone asked for another Merengue during this song or maybe the next song. I told him that I’ll try in another 20 minutes or so.
(9) This song seemed to speed up towards the end. It’s a long song too. I was going to put another Salsa song but I decided that a break would be a very good idea.
(10) Another big surprise except to those who were at my private party on Tuesday. Shortly before I put on this song, a request for Salsa Romantica or a slower song was made. There was another more specific request which would take couple of weeks to fulfill.
(11) Older version with vibraphone.
(12) I was considering playing Eddie Palmieri’s “Adoracion” a couple of times during the evening. This is a very fast song so I was playing with slowing the song a great deal. I ended up deciding not to play the song, but I accidentally left the slow setting on for this song.
(13) I’m not quite sure what happened. Maybe some people decided to skip this song in part because it was too familiar. Everyone decided to watch the new kid with super energy dance instead.
(14) This choice was in response to no one else dancing during the last song.
(15) I thought this was going to be my last song.
(16) But I played one more Bachata. I had Ray Barretto’s “Cocinando” loaded in case Vishal did not show up. “Cocinando” by the way is a 10+ minute Cha Cha Cha tune.
Total of 37 songs were played – 31 Salsa, 4 Bachata, 2 Merengue. Six Salsa songs probably qualify as typical Club Salsa Friday staple (Bailando, Miye Na We, Micaela, Otra Oportunidad, Duele Mas and maybe Etnia) from the past. A few other songs played were different versions of the usual diet of songs. La 33 is quite popular on Thursday evenings.
I was exhausted by the end; it took me about 10-15 minutes to get enough energy for a dance. It didn’t take me very long to warm up, but over half of good dancers were gone before I had chance to ask them for a dance. Oh well. It’s a penalty for DJing. I don’t think we had a night like this at Club Salsa on Fridays since … ever? I hazard to guess that unique would be a good description for tonight. Most people heard some of the songs I played tonight for the very first time in their life – this is going to happen only once. The impact will not be as great because the surprise factor will be gone next time I play these new songs.
Very large number of excellent CBL dancers was present tonight, and they were enjoying fairly good amount of space on the main floor. I bet I would have had a great time dancing tonight if someone else played the music I played – better than Scala last weekend and better than many SOS nights. As it was, dancing for me was quite good – considerably better than a typical evening at Club Salsa.
I received several compliments for a good job done as a DJ. Same or some other people made the same comment to Vishal. Of course, I know that it would not have been as good if there weren’t all those good dancers out there tonight to take advantage of whatever I played. In fact, I think it’s quite possible that any half decent DJ would have had a similar successful evening given the conditions (large number of good dancers and reasonable amount of space) tonight. If people think tonight’s set was good, they should have been here to listen to Tony Lara’s set on Tuesday.
An interesting, nice yet somewhat funny/strange/awkward comment I received tonight was from a person who told me that she always thought of me as a swan. Whoa! The first thing that came to my mind was the Ugly Duckling story. I’m not sure if this was the story in her mind, but the explanation was that I am like a swan because I’m graceful. Oh my. Oh no. This is too embarrassing – I can imagine getting jeered or made fun of by some of my blog readers. I guess it’s a nice compliment, but I was and am quite flabbergasted and more or less wished that I hadn’t heard it. I guess being graceful is good but … err … it’s not exactly manly unless Mikhail Baryshnikov were to be considered a sex symbol, is it? By the way, this person has known me for more than a year in the Salsa scene or back when I was feeling barely confident enough to start dancing Salsa after classes. I guess I must hide my stumbles fairly well from uncritical eyes.
dance discussion group
April 20, 2006
Pure Salsa Intermediate with Sally and Chris
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL ending with L-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and leader gets behind follower by 3 via left side with L-R staying in front of follower (neutral lead for no turn signal and R hand could be on follower’s stomach) – bring follower back (possibly slightly to her right as well although straight back would be simpler for follower) on 5 and/or 6 while leader gets back in front of follower after having circled around follower and facing follower with L-R on leader’s R shoulder. If possible, try to do a hook turn on 7,8 with something like a drop catch and connect R-R at waist level
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower forward to overtake on R side again (keep R-R in front of leader’s body – essentially just above leader’s R shoulder on 3) – lead follower into a 1/2 clockwise (walking?) turn behind leader (lead is a fairly wide circular motion clockwise behind leader’s head with R-R ending on leader’s L waist under leader’s L arm
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and reconnect L-L and bring follower forward into something like Titanic or crucifix by 3 – use R-R to lead follower to R on 5 and L-L is raised and used to turn follower around on 6 to get follower behind leader by 7 and leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise on 7,8 to face follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break again and R-R hat for follower (and release) and get into CBL position – lead follower forward on 5 and into full counterclockwise traveling turn with L-L kept relatively low but ending at chest level rather than at waist level
1,2,3,5,6,7 (I didn’t quite get the part here, especially the arm positions) lead follower forward on 1 and turn her around 1/2 counterclockwise while leader turns 1/2 to 3/4 clockwise to get into CBL position again and lead follower into traveling clockwise turn (the aim was for 2 1/2)
Part of the second hour of class was spent in a fairly large circle of people talking about various aspects of learning Salsa. One of the topics of interest was tension and connection. The general consensus was that it is difficult to get many beginners to establish any kind of tension without completely locking up entire arm – the solution to this problem is still quite murky. I had written a draft on this topic, but what I had written was no better than material written about partner dancing on places like wikipedia under the heading of connection, frame, etc. After having talked to multiple sources, writing anything that could be agreed upon by most people felt like too challenging a task. It did inspire me to try to see if I could do anything to get a beginner to establish a proper amount of tension during the club hours – I don’t think it was a great success. Then again, tension is but just one part of the equation – timing and technique including footwork also needs to get to a fairly decent level in order to take advantage of proper level of tension.
An amusing comment was made regarding tension, “It does not feel like the muscles that move the arms are the same as the muscles that prevent it from moving.” I might have misheard the statement. Different muscles control different movement, and a set of muscles rather than a single muscle coordinate to make movement possible. I guess very few people (including myself) consciously and continually think of (location of) muscles that are being used to move various body parts. Muscles that move the fingers are located mostly between the wrist and the elbow. Muscles that move the forearm (e.g. so that L shape of the arm can be made and maintained) are located between the elbow and shoulders (biceps and triceps working in opposing manner). Muscles that control the movement of the arm as a whole are located in the back. Knowing where the muscles are does not necessarily help much in controlling them however.
Other parts of the second hour of classes was spent talking about and practicing some recent routines learned with some give and take, comments and suggestions among a small group. The Salsa.IT compilation CD 2 was another topic of discussion.
I need to work on my balance more. I was trying to show someone a spinning technique, and an onlooker thought I was demonstrating styling (presumably because I was stumbling – and perhaps covering it up with something that might have looked like styling). Ouch. I think I did slightly better showing another person how to lead CBL.
Dancing afterwards was quite enjoyable – even if balance was an issue.
Pure Salsa Intermediate with Sally and Chris
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL ending with L-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and leader gets behind follower by 3 via left side with L-R staying in front of follower (neutral lead for no turn signal and R hand could be on follower’s stomach) – bring follower back (possibly slightly to her right as well although straight back would be simpler for follower) on 5 and/or 6 while leader gets back in front of follower after having circled around follower and facing follower with L-R on leader’s R shoulder. If possible, try to do a hook turn on 7,8 with something like a drop catch and connect R-R at waist level
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and bring follower forward to overtake on R side again (keep R-R in front of leader’s body – essentially just above leader’s R shoulder on 3) – lead follower into a 1/2 clockwise (walking?) turn behind leader (lead is a fairly wide circular motion clockwise behind leader’s head with R-R ending on leader’s L waist under leader’s L arm
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break and reconnect L-L and bring follower forward into something like Titanic or crucifix by 3 – use R-R to lead follower to R on 5 and L-L is raised and used to turn follower around on 6 to get follower behind leader by 7 and leader turns 1/2 counterclockwise on 7,8 to face follower
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break again and R-R hat for follower (and release) and get into CBL position – lead follower forward on 5 and into full counterclockwise traveling turn with L-L kept relatively low but ending at chest level rather than at waist level
1,2,3,5,6,7 (I didn’t quite get the part here, especially the arm positions) lead follower forward on 1 and turn her around 1/2 counterclockwise while leader turns 1/2 to 3/4 clockwise to get into CBL position again and lead follower into traveling clockwise turn (the aim was for 2 1/2)
Part of the second hour of class was spent in a fairly large circle of people talking about various aspects of learning Salsa. One of the topics of interest was tension and connection. The general consensus was that it is difficult to get many beginners to establish any kind of tension without completely locking up entire arm – the solution to this problem is still quite murky. I had written a draft on this topic, but what I had written was no better than material written about partner dancing on places like wikipedia under the heading of connection, frame, etc. After having talked to multiple sources, writing anything that could be agreed upon by most people felt like too challenging a task. It did inspire me to try to see if I could do anything to get a beginner to establish a proper amount of tension during the club hours – I don’t think it was a great success. Then again, tension is but just one part of the equation – timing and technique including footwork also needs to get to a fairly decent level in order to take advantage of proper level of tension.
An amusing comment was made regarding tension, “It does not feel like the muscles that move the arms are the same as the muscles that prevent it from moving.” I might have misheard the statement. Different muscles control different movement, and a set of muscles rather than a single muscle coordinate to make movement possible. I guess very few people (including myself) consciously and continually think of (location of) muscles that are being used to move various body parts. Muscles that move the fingers are located mostly between the wrist and the elbow. Muscles that move the forearm (e.g. so that L shape of the arm can be made and maintained) are located between the elbow and shoulders (biceps and triceps working in opposing manner). Muscles that control the movement of the arm as a whole are located in the back. Knowing where the muscles are does not necessarily help much in controlling them however.
Other parts of the second hour of classes was spent talking about and practicing some recent routines learned with some give and take, comments and suggestions among a small group. The Salsa.IT compilation CD 2 was another topic of discussion.
I need to work on my balance more. I was trying to show someone a spinning technique, and an onlooker thought I was demonstrating styling (presumably because I was stumbling – and perhaps covering it up with something that might have looked like styling). Ouch. I think I did slightly better showing another person how to lead CBL.
Dancing afterwards was quite enjoyable – even if balance was an issue.
Found a flaw and a simple fix
April 19, 2006
I was feeling pretty battered from recent activities so I wasn't going to go, but Vishal twisted my arm a little and I wasn't feeling too inspired with work so I went. Another part of the reason for going was to hear the song selections for tonight and see if there would be any new additions to the Wednesday playlist - there wasn't.
It wasn't the liveliest of the nights, but it was somewhat useful in trying to figure out why certain moves work or do not work with people at various level of abilities. I found a slight flaw in one of my techniques and also found a simple fix - this was helped by reading my dance partners reaction to a flawed leading technique. It seems obvious now, but it is difficult to find these flaws while dancing with people who are experienced followers and it is difficult to know that the technique is sound until these moves are used on followers who have not seen the move before. So considering this and couple other pretty good dances, this evening was not too bad.
Some other amusing bits included watching others dance while paying particular attention to feet (and trying to imagine making it lighter, etc), being watched while dancing (I didn't realize I might be worth watching except by beginners or by someone who is being critical and is thinking of ways to improve it), possible game of one-upmanship, and seeing Vishal play new brand new songs in a row (I provided one of them).
Speaking of new songs, I'm really looking forward to playing some new fun songs this Friday - I already have a pretty good outline of the playlist. I am almost dying with anticipation to see how people react to some of these songs.
I was feeling pretty battered from recent activities so I wasn't going to go, but Vishal twisted my arm a little and I wasn't feeling too inspired with work so I went. Another part of the reason for going was to hear the song selections for tonight and see if there would be any new additions to the Wednesday playlist - there wasn't.
It wasn't the liveliest of the nights, but it was somewhat useful in trying to figure out why certain moves work or do not work with people at various level of abilities. I found a slight flaw in one of my techniques and also found a simple fix - this was helped by reading my dance partners reaction to a flawed leading technique. It seems obvious now, but it is difficult to find these flaws while dancing with people who are experienced followers and it is difficult to know that the technique is sound until these moves are used on followers who have not seen the move before. So considering this and couple other pretty good dances, this evening was not too bad.
Some other amusing bits included watching others dance while paying particular attention to feet (and trying to imagine making it lighter, etc), being watched while dancing (I didn't realize I might be worth watching except by beginners or by someone who is being critical and is thinking of ways to improve it), possible game of one-upmanship, and seeing Vishal play new brand new songs in a row (I provided one of them).
Speaking of new songs, I'm really looking forward to playing some new fun songs this Friday - I already have a pretty good outline of the playlist. I am almost dying with anticipation to see how people react to some of these songs.
A private party at Club Salsa
April 18, 2006
Bachata class with Tony & Daniela
Shoulder body movement (L up, R up, L up, R up quickly followed by L up on 1,2,3,4, etc) and chest body movement (something like a throwing up motion – back and forward) was discussed.
Leader’s extra movement at the end of normal side-to-side turn (turning extra 90 degrees and get back to basic) was also demonstrated.
slide-step
1,2,3,4 side-to-side basic end with R toe cross behind L foot (lean towards R)
5,6,7,8 slide to R on 5,6 and L toe tap twice behind R foot
1,2,3,4 slide to L on 1,2, and R toe tap twice behind L foot
5,6,7,8 side-to-side basic
[this one is more of a choreographed move although it could work okay with a follower who is adept at mirroring.]
four corners
tight closed hold for solid frame and turn around full clockwise as a couple in a single measure
1 L foot “forward” (seemed more like 30 degrees to L than a strict forward – let’s call it 11 o’clock)
2 R foot together and tap and start turning as a unit clockwise (keep weight on L foot and push into the ground to help turning)
3 R foot “back” (5 o’clock)
4 L foot together and tap and start turning
5 L foot “forward” (2 o’clock)
6 R foot together and tap and start turning
7 R foot ‘back” (8 o’clock)
8 L foot together and tap and finish turn to face 12 o’clock (or original position) for 1
[for follower, steps on 1,3,5,7 are more like back, forward, back, forward]
fishing version 1
1,2,3,4 basic side-to-side and L-R is raised (R-L is let go)
5,6,7,8 leader is doing stationary basic while follower is doing side-to-side basic with possibly start of a turn (parading around the leader clockwise)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 follower walks around leader clockwise – possibly ending with L-R arm lock – leader is doing stationary basic
one option afterwards is to go down and up stationary – side-to-side basic works too
fishing version 2
1,2,3,4 basic side-to-side and L-R is raised (R-L is let go)
5,6,7,8 follower is led into normal traveling side-to-side turn (body lead using R hand with R hand ending behind follower’s back)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 initiate follower to parade around leader in clockwise direction using R hand on follower’s back to initiate the walk – leader does a forward basic (borrowing Salsa steps) on 1,2,3 and back basic on 5,6,7 – after follower gets around once, L-R could be placed on front of leader’s neck
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 continue follower to parade around leader in clockwise direction – forward basic on 1,2,3 for leader and stationary basic on 5,6,7,8 – on 8, L-R is let go and both L and R hand holds follower on her back
one option afterwards is a dip – other basic options are available too
butterfly
come apart on 5,6,7,8
1,2,3,4 side-to-side basic with R-L going over follower’s head
5,6,7,8 use L-R to lead follower into (traveling side-to-side?) turn (1/2 clockwise? – I’ll have to check this with someone in the class later – I think one of the connections (R-L) end up under follower’s R arm) – leader is behind follower
1,2,3,4 follower is led to R for traveling side-to-side turn with hand switch during the turn and R hand on follower’s R shoulder to stop excessive turn – leader should move with her and switch to L-L
5,6,7,8 leader is doing follower’s steps as follower is led to a side-to-side traveling turn – this time use L hand on follower’s L shoulder for stopping the turn and connect R-R at follower’s waist (follower should keep free hand at waist level)
1,2,3,4 leader is still doing follower’s steps as follower is led to a side-to-side traveling turn again … similar mechanics as before
5,6,7,8 to get back to facing each other, lead a side-to-side traveling turn with extra 1/2 turn thrown in and get R hand on follower back to bring follower in very close
These are quite good. I don’t think it would take much to teach follower what needs to be done so that it can be lead easily.
Since you-know-who wasn’t here, I’m guessing some of these moves may not see the light of day unless I make a stronger effort to use these. However, I might be underestimating some people; someone or two might surprise me.
Salsa class with Tony & Daniela
Shine
I didn’t ask for the hardest shines, but these are not easy. I would consider these more difficult than SOS level 3 shines. I don’t know how they would compare to SOS level 4 shines since I never tried them.
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic end with R foot cross over in front of L foot
1 L foot side heel
2 R foot more or less in place heel
3 L foot cross behind R foot
5 R foot together
6 L foot heel
7 R foot heel
8 L foot normal
1 R foot cross in front of L foot
2 L foot side (somewhat wide) L
3 R foot toe cross behind L foot
4 R foot to R
5 L foot cross behind R foot
6 R foot slightly to R
7 L foot forward (somewhat bigger step)
8,1,2,3 R foot kick (8), swing back (over in front of L knee) (1), kick again (2), back to original position (3)
I’m less sure about the next part because I never quite understood the next part except that it was supposed to be very much like the beginning. Below would make some sense, but I’m not at all sure that there was a pause on 4.
5 L foot side heel
6 R foot more or less in place heel
7 L foot normal
8 R foot cross over in front of L foot maybe and get ready for normal basic
Partner work – I think this might have been called Napoleon. It’s R-R only sequence.
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL end with R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower to a double stationary clockwise turn – leader turns half counterclockwise when follower is done with her turn with R-R going down and up
1,2,3,5,6,7 over leader’s head to his R side and back while turning 1/2 on 1,2,3 – lead follower to a single clockwise turn while leader does a walking clockwise turn of his own to get into CBL position by 8
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break on 1, bring follower forward under R-R arm – traveling turn for follower with windmill motion keeping R-R closer to leader’s side – end with both leader and follower arms pointing upwards but not crossing over
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa (a new variation I haven’t seen before) with R-R going over follower’s head and lead follower to 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn while leader get to CBL position with R-R behind follower’s neck
1,2,3,5,6,7 stylized CBL start (like Mambo Jazz) if there’s time and lead follower forward into 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn
We didn’t get to the next bit, but I think it must have been another Copa-like start (switching to L-L going over follower’s head) but ending with leader moving forward and making a 1/2 or 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn around follower’s L arm.
Again, I really like this routine, especially after having written it down. It’s not exactly easy, and I don’t think I would be able to lead it for everyone – at least not in the beginning. This may end up being one of those longer classic sequences (useful in parts and also as a whole) for me; I haven’t had one of those since the class with Tamambo last December.
Was it good value for the money? If I paid 10 pounds for these two classes, I would have considered it money very well spent. I can’t speak for anyone else of course, especially since I had some input in level of difficulty of the material used today. In a sense, it was pretty close to being a private lesson but not quite. Otherwise, I guess I now have friends (or at least very good acquaintances with people) in South Italy if I ever find a time to make it over there – probably better sooner than later if ever.
Music played was of fun party type – somewhat unfamiliar yet quite likable. Vishal would have loved them. A few of the dances tonight were considerably more enjoyable than any of the dances at Scala (mostly because conditions there was so cramped) – and more than half of these fun dances were with people not named Daniela. I think I tired to dance with everyone, but I might have missed one or two who decided to call it a night early on.
One amusing tidbit I learned about Tony over tapas. He’s an Olympian; he represented Great Britain for Barcelona Summer Olympics for Taekwondo. I knew that he did martial arts, but this additional detail about him being an England champion was news to me. Apparently, one of Taekwondo participant at the Barcelona Olympics was an Englishman representing Spain. Pretty neat…
Tony, Daniela and members of their team will be performing a Pink Panther routine at the London Heathrow Congress on Saturday evening. There will be no Bachata performance – Claudia is still dealing with some personal matters. The second Bachata DVD is still in plans for the summer – apparently they did one shooting but did not like the quality of the shoot. It seemed like their next tour will not happen until October, so I would have a long break at the very least.
If I were to do this again in a month or two, I probably would do two Bachata classes and perhaps charge 4 pounds for the beginner class with larger limit for class size and 6 pounds for a smaller intermediate class. As much as I liked their Salsa class, I get a feeling that Cambridge might have reached saturation point with number of Salsa classes.
Bachata class with Tony & Daniela
Shoulder body movement (L up, R up, L up, R up quickly followed by L up on 1,2,3,4, etc) and chest body movement (something like a throwing up motion – back and forward) was discussed.
Leader’s extra movement at the end of normal side-to-side turn (turning extra 90 degrees and get back to basic) was also demonstrated.
slide-step
1,2,3,4 side-to-side basic end with R toe cross behind L foot (lean towards R)
5,6,7,8 slide to R on 5,6 and L toe tap twice behind R foot
1,2,3,4 slide to L on 1,2, and R toe tap twice behind L foot
5,6,7,8 side-to-side basic
[this one is more of a choreographed move although it could work okay with a follower who is adept at mirroring.]
four corners
tight closed hold for solid frame and turn around full clockwise as a couple in a single measure
1 L foot “forward” (seemed more like 30 degrees to L than a strict forward – let’s call it 11 o’clock)
2 R foot together and tap and start turning as a unit clockwise (keep weight on L foot and push into the ground to help turning)
3 R foot “back” (5 o’clock)
4 L foot together and tap and start turning
5 L foot “forward” (2 o’clock)
6 R foot together and tap and start turning
7 R foot ‘back” (8 o’clock)
8 L foot together and tap and finish turn to face 12 o’clock (or original position) for 1
[for follower, steps on 1,3,5,7 are more like back, forward, back, forward]
fishing version 1
1,2,3,4 basic side-to-side and L-R is raised (R-L is let go)
5,6,7,8 leader is doing stationary basic while follower is doing side-to-side basic with possibly start of a turn (parading around the leader clockwise)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 follower walks around leader clockwise – possibly ending with L-R arm lock – leader is doing stationary basic
one option afterwards is to go down and up stationary – side-to-side basic works too
fishing version 2
1,2,3,4 basic side-to-side and L-R is raised (R-L is let go)
5,6,7,8 follower is led into normal traveling side-to-side turn (body lead using R hand with R hand ending behind follower’s back)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 initiate follower to parade around leader in clockwise direction using R hand on follower’s back to initiate the walk – leader does a forward basic (borrowing Salsa steps) on 1,2,3 and back basic on 5,6,7 – after follower gets around once, L-R could be placed on front of leader’s neck
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 continue follower to parade around leader in clockwise direction – forward basic on 1,2,3 for leader and stationary basic on 5,6,7,8 – on 8, L-R is let go and both L and R hand holds follower on her back
one option afterwards is a dip – other basic options are available too
butterfly
come apart on 5,6,7,8
1,2,3,4 side-to-side basic with R-L going over follower’s head
5,6,7,8 use L-R to lead follower into (traveling side-to-side?) turn (1/2 clockwise? – I’ll have to check this with someone in the class later – I think one of the connections (R-L) end up under follower’s R arm) – leader is behind follower
1,2,3,4 follower is led to R for traveling side-to-side turn with hand switch during the turn and R hand on follower’s R shoulder to stop excessive turn – leader should move with her and switch to L-L
5,6,7,8 leader is doing follower’s steps as follower is led to a side-to-side traveling turn – this time use L hand on follower’s L shoulder for stopping the turn and connect R-R at follower’s waist (follower should keep free hand at waist level)
1,2,3,4 leader is still doing follower’s steps as follower is led to a side-to-side traveling turn again … similar mechanics as before
5,6,7,8 to get back to facing each other, lead a side-to-side traveling turn with extra 1/2 turn thrown in and get R hand on follower back to bring follower in very close
These are quite good. I don’t think it would take much to teach follower what needs to be done so that it can be lead easily.
Since you-know-who wasn’t here, I’m guessing some of these moves may not see the light of day unless I make a stronger effort to use these. However, I might be underestimating some people; someone or two might surprise me.
Salsa class with Tony & Daniela
Shine
I didn’t ask for the hardest shines, but these are not easy. I would consider these more difficult than SOS level 3 shines. I don’t know how they would compare to SOS level 4 shines since I never tried them.
1,2,3,5,6,7 basic end with R foot cross over in front of L foot
1 L foot side heel
2 R foot more or less in place heel
3 L foot cross behind R foot
5 R foot together
6 L foot heel
7 R foot heel
8 L foot normal
1 R foot cross in front of L foot
2 L foot side (somewhat wide) L
3 R foot toe cross behind L foot
4 R foot to R
5 L foot cross behind R foot
6 R foot slightly to R
7 L foot forward (somewhat bigger step)
8,1,2,3 R foot kick (8), swing back (over in front of L knee) (1), kick again (2), back to original position (3)
I’m less sure about the next part because I never quite understood the next part except that it was supposed to be very much like the beginning. Below would make some sense, but I’m not at all sure that there was a pause on 4.
5 L foot side heel
6 R foot more or less in place heel
7 L foot normal
8 R foot cross over in front of L foot maybe and get ready for normal basic
Partner work – I think this might have been called Napoleon. It’s R-R only sequence.
1,2,3,5,6,7 CBL end with R-R
1,2,3,5,6,7 lead follower to a double stationary clockwise turn – leader turns half counterclockwise when follower is done with her turn with R-R going down and up
1,2,3,5,6,7 over leader’s head to his R side and back while turning 1/2 on 1,2,3 – lead follower to a single clockwise turn while leader does a walking clockwise turn of his own to get into CBL position by 8
1,2,3,5,6,7 open break on 1, bring follower forward under R-R arm – traveling turn for follower with windmill motion keeping R-R closer to leader’s side – end with both leader and follower arms pointing upwards but not crossing over
1,2,3,5,6,7 Copa (a new variation I haven’t seen before) with R-R going over follower’s head and lead follower to 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn while leader get to CBL position with R-R behind follower’s neck
1,2,3,5,6,7 stylized CBL start (like Mambo Jazz) if there’s time and lead follower forward into 1 1/2 clockwise traveling turn
We didn’t get to the next bit, but I think it must have been another Copa-like start (switching to L-L going over follower’s head) but ending with leader moving forward and making a 1/2 or 1 1/2 counterclockwise turn around follower’s L arm.
Again, I really like this routine, especially after having written it down. It’s not exactly easy, and I don’t think I would be able to lead it for everyone – at least not in the beginning. This may end up being one of those longer classic sequences (useful in parts and also as a whole) for me; I haven’t had one of those since the class with Tamambo last December.
Was it good value for the money? If I paid 10 pounds for these two classes, I would have considered it money very well spent. I can’t speak for anyone else of course, especially since I had some input in level of difficulty of the material used today. In a sense, it was pretty close to being a private lesson but not quite. Otherwise, I guess I now have friends (or at least very good acquaintances with people) in South Italy if I ever find a time to make it over there – probably better sooner than later if ever.
Music played was of fun party type – somewhat unfamiliar yet quite likable. Vishal would have loved them. A few of the dances tonight were considerably more enjoyable than any of the dances at Scala (mostly because conditions there was so cramped) – and more than half of these fun dances were with people not named Daniela. I think I tired to dance with everyone, but I might have missed one or two who decided to call it a night early on.
One amusing tidbit I learned about Tony over tapas. He’s an Olympian; he represented Great Britain for Barcelona Summer Olympics for Taekwondo. I knew that he did martial arts, but this additional detail about him being an England champion was news to me. Apparently, one of Taekwondo participant at the Barcelona Olympics was an Englishman representing Spain. Pretty neat…
Tony, Daniela and members of their team will be performing a Pink Panther routine at the London Heathrow Congress on Saturday evening. There will be no Bachata performance – Claudia is still dealing with some personal matters. The second Bachata DVD is still in plans for the summer – apparently they did one shooting but did not like the quality of the shoot. It seemed like their next tour will not happen until October, so I would have a long break at the very least.
If I were to do this again in a month or two, I probably would do two Bachata classes and perhaps charge 4 pounds for the beginner class with larger limit for class size and 6 pounds for a smaller intermediate class. As much as I liked their Salsa class, I get a feeling that Cambridge might have reached saturation point with number of Salsa classes.
For all those checking for updates
April 18, 2006
There isn't anything special to write about. As far as I know, they're on their way and expect to be in Cambridge around 5 PM. I might meet with them before the classes start and have a snack before the class. This might happen at Sauce. If you happen to be nearby, feel free to stop by and say hi. Otherwise, doors are supposed to be open at 7 PM, and classes will start (hopefully on time) at 7:30 PM. As for the turn-out, your guess probably is as good as mine.
There isn't anything special to write about. As far as I know, they're on their way and expect to be in Cambridge around 5 PM. I might meet with them before the classes start and have a snack before the class. This might happen at Sauce. If you happen to be nearby, feel free to stop by and say hi. Otherwise, doors are supposed to be open at 7 PM, and classes will start (hopefully on time) at 7:30 PM. As for the turn-out, your guess probably is as good as mine.
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